The father of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed allegedly by a man who illegally entered the U.S. last month, criticized politicians for using her death while campaigning for the upcoming election.
In an interview with NBC, Laken Riley’s father said he wishes his daughter’s death would “not be so ... [+]
Jason Riley said his daughter’s death “started a storm in our country” and has “incited a lot of people,” while speaking publicly for the first time in an interview on NBC’s Today Show that aired Monday.
The suspect who allegedly killed Riley, while she was out for a run last month at the University of Georgia, entered the U.S. illegally two years ago, according to police, and has been brought up constantly on the campaign trail and Capitol Hill to debate immigration policy.
Republicans—including Donald Trump—have regularly invoked Riley’s murder as a rallying cry against what they portray as President Biden’s lax border policies since the suspect, Jose Ibarra, was a Venezuelan migrant who entered the country illegally.
“I think it’s being used politically to get those votes,” Jason Riley told NBC. “It makes me angry. I feel like, you know, they’re just using my daughter’s name for that. And she was much better than that, and she should be raised up for the person that she is. She was an angel.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.